Fluffy, tender, sweet cinnamon buns baked to perfection. We bake them in the original Swedish way, following the recipe on Vår Kokbok, 1986 ("Our Cookbook").
Crumble the fresh yeast into a large mixing bowl.
Add the butter and milk to a saucepan, heat up until it reaches 37ºC (finger warm, not burning). Add a little to the bowl, mixing well with a spatula, until the yeast is dissolved.
Add the rest butter-milk mix, sugar, salt and almost all the flour. Save some for later. Work the dough until it becomes smooth, flexible and the gluten builds up. Use your hands or a standmixer (if you have one).
Proof for 30-60 mins, covered with a dry kitchen towel, or until the dough doubles in size.
Preheat oven to 250ºC. Mix the sugar, cinnamon and warm softened butter together in a bowl, until you form a thick paste. Try to heat the butter enough but not so much that it melts into liquid form.
Divide the dough into 2 parts. Roll out on part into a rectangle about 1/2 cm thick. Spread half of the filling equally over the rectangled dough. Roll up the dough starting from the bottom long side. Cut each roll into 20 or 23 pieces. Place each bun onto a baking tray previously lined with baking paper, the snail-shaped cut side facing up. Repeat the same process with the other half of the dough.
Cover both trays with a kitchen towel and let proof for 30 mins, or until the buns double in size.
Brush each bun with whisked egg (or milk), sprinkle optional pearl sugar and bake at 250ºC one tray at a time for 5-7 mins (or until buns are golden brown).
Vegan version: I haven't tried out making these vegan, but you could try it out. Sub the butter for a light oil (sunflower, olive, rapeseed...) and instead of dairy milk, use any plant-based alternative, a high fat% one could work well e.g. oats 3% or soya milk. As for the eggs to brush at the end, sub for plant-based milk too.